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II.—On the Rocks surrounding the Warwickshire Coal-field, and on the Base of the Coal-measures2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Aubrey Strahan
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Abstract

In a paper read before the Birmingham Philosophical Society in 1882, it was announced by Professor Lapworth that the discovery of fossils in some shales underlying the productive Coalmeasures of Warwickshire, and coloured on the Geological Survey Map as Coal-measures, proved that these shales must be of Cambrian age (Lower Silurian of the Geological Survey). As the true age of these shales had for many years been a debateable question, Professor Lapworth's discovery was of considerable interest, and has led to an important alteration being made in the map, the supposed Lower Coal-measures and Millstone Grit having both been now relegated to the Lower Silurian (Lingula Flags). It may be of interest, before entering on the description of these beds, to trace shortly the history of the error in their classification.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 3 , Issue 12 , December 1886 , pp. 540 - 557
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1886

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References

page 540 note 3 The nomenclature of the Geological Survey, according to which the Lingula Flags are included in the Lower Silurian, will be used throughout this paper.

page 541 note 1 Notice on the Black Oxide of Manganese of Warwickshire, by Parkes, S., Trans. Geol. Soc. series 2, vol. i. p. 168, 1824Google Scholar (read 1821).

page 541 note 2 Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare and W. Phillips, book iii. chap. iii. p. 406, and chap. v. p. 456.

page 541 note 3 On the Structure of the Border Country of Salop and North Wales, etc., Trans. Geol. Soc. series 2, vol. ii. p. 237, 1829Google Scholar (read in 1824).

page 542 note 1 On the Diorites of the Warwickshire, Coal-field, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxv. p. 637, 1879Google Scholar.

page 542 note 2 On the Discovery of Cambrian Rocks in the Neighbourhood of Birmingham, Geol. Mag. New Series, Dec. II. Vol. IX. p. 563, 1882Google Scholar (reprinted from the Proc. Birmingham Phil. Soc. vol. iii. p. 234). See also Geol. Mag. New Series, Dec. III. Vol. III. p. 319, 1886Google Scholar.

page 543 note 1 These rocks were referred to by Sir Andrew Ramsay in his evidence given before the Coal Commissioners as being of doubtful origin (Report of Coal Commission, vol. ii. p. 470). Eventually from the limited nature of the exposures, and the small advance that petrography had made at the time of the publication of the map, they were included in the index with the intrusive diorites under the general name of greenstone.

page 543 note 2 Geol. Mag. for 1886, p. 320.

page 545 note 1 This subdivision consists of two zones according to Prof. Lapworth, an upper zone characterized by Sphœrophthahnus alatus, Seek., and a lower zone with Agnostus sociale, Tullberg, GEOL. MAG. for 1886, p. 321Google Scholar.

page 540 note 2 The Geology of the Warwickshire Coal-field (Geol. Survey Memoir), p. 20.

page 548 note 1 This list was furnished to me in MS. by the kindness of Prof. Lapworth. He remarks that Obolella sagittalis, Lingulella pygmea, and L. Nicholsoni, may be all of them varieties of L. lepis.

page 551 note 1 Geol. Mag. 1882, New Series, Dec. II. Vol. IX. p. 565Google Scholar.

page 551 note 2 The position of the boundary fault of the New Red Marl is marked in this brook by a rubble of diorite resting against red and white clay. Lumps of a white siliceous Tein-stuflt containing specks of galena may be picked out of the white clay.

page 551 note 3 Harrison, , Midland Naturalist, vol. viii. 1885Google Scholar.

page 552 note 1 GEOL. MAG. Dec. II. Vol. IX. p. 565.

page 552 note 2 Midland Naturalist, vol. viii. p. 72, 1885Google Scholar.

page 552 note 3 The South Staffordshire Coal-field (Memoirs of the Geological Survey), second edition, 1859.

page 553 note 1 Geology of the Warwickshire Coal-field (Memoirs of the Geological Survey), p. 39, fig. 4.

page 553 note 2 Geology of the Warwickshire Coal-field.

page 553 note 3 In a paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Warwickshire Naturalists' and Archaeologists' Field Club, 1884. A different view was taken by Prof. J. Phillips, who refers to the “curious circumstance, that the Nuneaton coal-field terminates on the north-eastern [side] by a magnificent line of fault. It is one of the grandest lines of fault which can be seen anywhere, and along that line of fault there are the effects of metamorphosis; there are considerable bursts of trap-rock” (Coal Commission Report, 1871, vol. ii. p. 494Google Scholar). The trap-rock referred to appears to be the Caldecote Volcanic Series, which is of course of vastly greater antiquity than the fault.

page 554 note 1 Report of the British Association for 1875 (Report of the Committee on the Circulation of Underground Waters), pp. 135, 136. For the Nuneaton boring see also Report for 1878, Report on the Circulation of Underground Waters, p. 7.

page 554 note 2 The details of this section were given me by Mr. W. Andrews. The Waterstones are well exposed in a quarry by the side of the L. and N. W. Railway, near Attleborough.

page 555 note 1 Report of the British Association for 1882. Report on the Circulation of Underground Waters, pp. 14, 15, where the section is given in full.

page 555 note 2 Report of the British Association for 1875 (Report of the Committee on the Circulation of Underground Waters), pp. 136, 137. For a further account of the Hinckley Boring see. Report for 1879, p. 160.

page 556 note 1 The lower part of this subdivision was attributed to the Permian by Sir Andrew Ramsay, who gave the following details (Report of the Coal Commission, 1871, vol. ii. p. 134Google Scholar): —

page 556 note 2 Report of the British Association for 1875 (Report of the Committee on the Circulation of Underground Waters), p. 137.

page 556 note 3 Report of the British Association for 1878 (Report on the Circulation of Underground Waters), pp. 6, 7.

page 556 note 4 Midland Naturalist, vol. viii. (1885)Google Scholar.